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7 questions to ask when purchasing broiler feeds

Price should not be only criterion when you buy complete feeds for broilers; this short list will give you a tool to better evaluate commercial feeds.

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Not all broiler farms produce their own feed. Smaller ones usually purchase ready-made products, whereas medium farms will commission a local feed mill to provide them with feed on demand. In either case, it pays to have a checklist for such purchases. The list below is a first step that looks inside the feed to provide answers that will prevent unpleasant surprises once the feed is consumed. Some questions are harder to answer, but answers do exist for all of them. The best suppliers will have no problem answering these questions.

For broilers, cereals should not be ground too finely or too coarsely. In the first instance, the feed becomes more expensive, the birds don’t really benefit, and if fed in meal form the feed will bridge in the silos and stick on the birds’ beaks causing discomfort and a drop in feed intake. In the second case, digestibility will be reduced and feed efficiency index will worsen. Ideally, a medium grind is preferable, but the exact sieve size depends on the cereal type. A qualified nutritionist should be consulted to provide such information.

Knowing protein levels (usually found on feed tags) is barely enough to evaluate any kind of feed. In broilers, the relationship between metabolizable energy and methionine (the first limiting amino acid) is crucial as it determines the rate of growth and carcass fatness. Thus, it is of the highest importance to match these two variables with the genetics used in your farm. A high-end feed supplier should be able to give you the complete amino acid profile, which will help your nutritionist determine if your birds can grow to their genetic potential.